Wayne Skaggs, Ph.D., P.E., is a William Neal Reynolds and
Distinguished
University Professor of drainage and agricultural water
management in
Biological and Agricultural Engineering at North
Carolina State
University. He teaches and conducts research in
drainage and
subsurface water management engineering.

Biographical

Dr. R. Wayne Skaggs was born and reared on a farm in eastern Kentucky.
He attended the University of Kentucky where he received the BS degree
in Agricultural Engineering in 1964 and the M.S. in 1966. He was then
employed as a graduate instructor in Agricultural Engineering at Purdue
University, where he received the Ph.D in 1970. Dr. Skaggs joined the
faculty of the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at
North Carolina State University in 1970. He was promoted through the
ranks to full professor, before being named William Neal Reynolds
Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering in 1984 and
Distinguished University Professor in 1991.

Dr. Skaggs has taught and conducted research in drainage
and subsurface water management engineering for the past 37 years. He
has served as major professor and directed the thesis work of 24 M.S.
and 38 Ph.D graduate students. His work includes the development of the
water management model, DRAINMOD, which is widely used by consulting
engineers, researchers and government agencies. The model was extended
by Skaggs and his students to predict the movement and fate of
nitrates, salts and other solutes in the soil profile and is being
applied internationally to design and manage drainage and related water
management systems. It has also found wide application in modeling the
hydrology of wetlands.

Dr. Skaggs received the Hancor Soil and Water Engineering
Award in 1986 from ASAE. He is a member of the Overholt Drainage Hall
of Fame, a Fellow of the ASAE, and in 1993 was presented The John Deere
Gold Medal. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in
1991. Dr. Skaggs was presented North Carolina State's highest Faculty
recognition, the Alexander Quarles Holladay Award in 1994 and the
University of North Carolina's highest award, the O. Max Gardner Award,
in 1997. In 1997 he was presented the Alexander von Humboldt award for
contributions to U.S. agriculture. Dr. Skaggs is a member of the
Engineering Hall of Distinction at the University of Kentucky(1994) and
a Distinguished Engineering Alumnus at Purdue University (1997). He was
presented the Gamma Sigma Delta International Distinguished Achievement
in Agriculture Award for 1999. Dr. Skaggs served as President of the
ASAE for 2001/2002.